University Access Officer

Overview

Job Title: University Access Officer

Salary: £29,227.50 per annum, including London Weighting.

Closing Date: Monday 23 February 2026  will shortlist and interview during the advertising period. Apply early as the advert may close before the closing date if a suitable candidate is found.

Reporting to: Programme Manager

Contract: Full time, Monday to Friday, 37.5 hours per week. 6-month fixed term to August 2026, with possibility of extension.

Job Location: London – currently Bishop Douglass Catholic School and Hornsey School for Girls.

Start date: ASAP

The Access Project is an education charity; we believe that every young person can make the most of education, unlocking their potential and creating a fairer society. Our mission is to support students from under-resourced backgrounds to access top universities, through a unique combination of tuition and in-school mentoring. We work with them to make good applications, get the grades and transition to university.

The programme combats educational inequality and improves social mobility by raising students’ grades and supporting them to understand the pathway to a top university. Young people on our programme are 50% more likely to place at a top university compared to statistically similar students.

The Access Project is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Our safeguarding system is underpinned by a range of policies and procedures which encourage and promote safe working practice across the organisation.

People who work at The Access Project are motivated by the desire to create a fairer society. We play an active part in achieving the mission to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds access top universities. We’re a friendly, collaborative, supportive and inclusive team with passionate people working together in Delivery, Sales and Partnerships, Strategy, Finance and Operations to achieve our mission.

Our people strategy aims to enable and inspire all employees to achieve, grow, succeed and thrive, with regular opportunities to share ideas and strong teamwork. We value every individual and offer a wide range of benefits. In our last staff engagement survey, 90% said they’re proud to tell people they work at The Access Project.

• Empowerment: We support students and our people to develop the skills and knowledge to accomplish their goals.
• Courage: We encourage our students and our people to be authentic, innovative and ambitious in order to reach their full potential and deliver our mission.
• Impact: We evolve our programmes through an evidence-led approach, supporting our students to achieve their best outcomes.
• Inclusion: We respect and value individuality and engage diverse voices to achieve our mission.
• Ownership: We hold ourselves accountable in all our actions and efforts. We ask, “What can I do to improve my results?”

This vacancy is for a University Access Officer to work in two of our schools in Hornsey and East Finchley, London. If there is a possibility to extend beyond the fixed term, this may include a move to a different school/programme. The University Access Officer works with school staff at all levels, volunteer tutors and coaches, and with the rest of The Access Project’s team to ensure that the delivery of our programmes is optimised.

• Work directly with students, mentoring in a professional and safe manner.
• Engage with school staff, your Programme Manager, and students in school to ensure that you have fully enrolled cohorts across both programmes.
• Assess student progress towards being able to make successful Key Stage 5 and university applications.
• Upload information onto the Salesforce database in a timely manner (training is provided).
• Work with school staff to ensure their cooperation and timely completion of activities contributing to the smooth running of the programmes.
• Present at termly school meetings with Senior Management to report on our programmes progress.
• Support the wider team by attending university…